A country with no opposition

Our correspondent writes ...

Since 1997, the Disunited Kingdom has been led by a government with no opposition - the closest you can get to a dictatorship without
acknowledging its true status. We do, of course, have opposition parties but they offer no opposition as nothing they say or do makes any
difference. At times their vote has merely increased the government majority and, as a
result, we have been landed with more bad legislation in one decade than many of us remember in a lifetime of politics. And additionally our
country has been taken into two disastrous, and totally unnecessary wars.

It is often said that our politicians have lost touch with the people but the truth is that they never were in touch. They have their own
agenda and the people they supposedly serve do not enter the equation. New Labour, emerging from old Labour, was expected to retain its basic
socialist principles but it has done no such thing. With the exception of a few genuine MPs it does not represent the working class man or women.
It treats the whole electorate as idiots and treats them despicably.

If we accept that New Labour does not represent the people who voted it into power, then we also have to accept that members of opposition
parties cannot possibly represent the people who voted for them, even if they wanted to.

Take the case of Damian Green - the Conservative MP for Ashford and shadow immigration minister. He managed to get his hands on some leaked
information from the Home Office. Pretty damaging statistics they were too because they revealed more about the true extent of immigration than
Jacqi Smith, Gordon Brown, or anyone else in the New Labour cabinet would prefer us to know. For his troubles, Damian Green was arrested in a
public place and his home and parliamentary offices were searched by the Gestapo (a.k.a. The Metropolitan Police).

It could hardly be argued that what Mr Green had done violated national security (which seems to be the government's excuse for covering most
things up) because, by allowing in more immigrants than they were prepared to admit to, the government were actually increasing the risk of
terrorism. If you let anyone cross over the UK's borders and wander around freely then you have no idea what they might be up to. And in this
government's case, they don't even know where most immigrants are once they've slipped past the poor deluded souls who work for the Border and
Immigration Agency. If they want to become terrorists, then this is as safe a place as any to make a start. Naturally, they run the risk of
a scolding by ex-schoolteacher, Jacqi Smith, but that probably won't faze them greatly.

Meanwhile, down in the Westminster Lunatic Asylum, Damian Green is going through hell for trying to do his job. But how can he, or any other
opposition MP, do his job if he has to rely on leakages from a government office? He can't. We've already established that New Labour MPs do not
represent their constituents so we have to accept that opposition MPs cannot possibly represent theirs if they cannot get information about what
the ruling party is doing. As shadows for cabinet members, they should have open access to information which concerns the electorate; they should
not have to use covert methods because this necessity makes it almost impossible for them to do their jobs.

We already know that New Labour have introduced huge rafts of totally unnecessary legislation without putting anything before the House for a
vote so they are ignoring the basic principles of democracy. They cover up most of their activities and they invariably lie when they are taken to
task. So we have to rely on decent men like Damian Green and Norman Baker (Lib Dem MP for Lewes) to expose them using freedom of information
requests or whatever other means they can employ, even at the risk of losing their personal liberty. That alone speaks volumes for the Common
Purpose approach of New Labour but if opposition MPs can be treated this way imagine what they can do to the rest of us.

Naturally, there will have to be an election sooner or later and we hope New Labour will then be consigned to the scrap heap they so richly
deserve. In this case, we pray that they will not be recycled and that the additional burden placed on the landfill sites will not add to the
climate change problems. But if there is a change of government, what guarantee do we have that anything will be any different? Opposition MPs
always say the things we want to hear when they are in opposition but they rarely put them into practice when they achieve power. They invariably
do what they are told to do by civil servants and bankers so nothing really changes. Whatever persuasion they are, you have to remember most are
only in politics for what they can get out of it personally.

So what can we do about it?

Short of having a revolution there is no guarantee that anything we do will be successful. But we must try to do
something if we care about our country. One thing we can do now is to ask our own MP where he stands on the major issues and what he plans to do
after the election. (For 'he' substitute 'she' as appropriate)

Let's assume that our own MP is in opposition at the moment. Questions we might ask are:

Are you pro-EU or anti-EU? (If we acknowledge that the EU is having the most damaging effects on the UK, then we need to know)

Will your party repeal all the bad New Labour legislation?

Will your party restore our right to free speech?

Will your party rid us of governmental snooping and constant surveillance?

Will your party drastically reduce the size of the public sector?

Will your party ensure that benefits given to public sector workers are restored to private sector workers or, alternatively, will public
sector workers have benefits taken away so that all workers are on an equal footing in respect of pay, retirement and pensions, etc?

Will your party stop further unlimited immigration and give priorities to its indigenous population?

Will your party make it illegal to turn every comment into a racial issue?

Will your party renegotiate the terms of our relationships with the USA and make it clear we can manage perfectly well without them?

Will your party be prepared to withdraw from the EU if there is the slightest threat that the UK is to be a satellite district governed by
Brussels.

Will your party track down the trained miscreants who have infiltrated British society at all levels and done so much to wreck Britain?

The list could be endless but we need to start asking now and put them under pressure so they know what is expected and can make sure their
leaders know. It's not possible to know what effect this may have because so many MPs think they're not subject to scrutiny or accountability. But
when they get to parliament we're stuck with them for at least four years.

If only we could have a system where a new incoming government was on probation for one year with an annual referendum held to establish
whether they stayed in power. That would weed out the self-servers.

"Many men stumble across the truth ... but most manage to pick themselves up and continue as if nothing had happened."